With the Yankees under .500 in August for the first time this century, someone is on the hot seat, but one insider thinks that heat is on the wrong seat.
The Yankees are in trouble. Or at least, someone in the Yankees organization is.
It's the middle of August and the team's record is sub-.500. That's the first time those words have been written about the Yankees since 1995.
Naturally, with a team on the verge of missing the playoffs, the manager is on the hot seat, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post. But should he be?
"I think Boone is probably the one on the hot seat," Heyman said. "I don't think he's the culprit, obviously he's not had a great season either but general manager is one who really makes the impact and in this case it's not a good one."
By general manager, of course, he's referring to Brian Cashman.
Aaron Boone is on the Yankees hot seat, but Brian Cashman should be too
Heyman said some of the criticism of Cashman has been overblown, but he also laid out some of the more valid criticism of the Yankees GM. Like how the team has "gone too far to the analytics side and kind of left scouting behind." Like how "the moves have been disasters over the last few years."
Extensions for Luis Severino and Aaron Hicks didn't work out. Trades for Josh Donaldson and Joey Gallo were misses.
Even so, Heyman doesn't think Cashman is on the hot seat. But Boone is.
If that's truly the case, then Hal Steinbrenner's patience is only extending to Cashman, who has built a .500 team. Boone gets to coach it.
Honestly, both Boone and Cashman have earned some fire under their chairs. Boone has mismanaged the lineup. Cashman mismanaged creating the lineup. It just seems unfair that one of them is feeling the pressure and the other appears free from blame.
